Electromagnetic conveyor trough for conveying liquid metals

ABSTRACT

An electromagnetic conveyor of the type having a trough body ascending obliquely from a liquid metal storage vessel and an associated travelling field inductor for producing a field which causes liquid metal in the vessel to be conveyed upward to a pouring spout. In the embodiment described below, a side wall of the body has an opening near the upper end of the body from which a delivery channel extends at an angle to the trough direction. The trough body is also preferably provided with a flow restricting orifice having a mean cross sectional dimension of no more than 80 percent and preferably not more than 75 percent of the mean trough body width in the same direction and also an obliquely extending terminal wall for deflecting the upwardly moving liquid metal stream to the delivery channel.

United States Patent 1191 Von Starck et a1.

1451 Oct. 16, 1973 1 ELECTROMAGNETIC CONVEYOR TROUGH FOR CONVEYINGLIQUID METALS [73] Assignee: AEG-Elotherm GmbH,

Remscheid-l-lasten, Germany 221 Filed: June 5,1972 21 Appl. No.2 259,675

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 3,435,992 4/1969 Tisdale 222/146FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2,061,110 6/1971 Germany 417/502,061,168 6/1971 Germany 417/50 Primary Examiner-William L. FreehAttorney-John W. Malley et a1.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT An electromagnetic conveyor of the type having a troughbody ascending obliquely from a liquid metal storage vessel and anassociated travelling field inductor for producing a field which causesliquid metal in the vessel to be conveyed upward to a pouring spout. inthe embodiment described below, a side wall of the body has an openingnear the upper end of the body from which a delivery channel extends atan angle to the trough direction. The trough body is also preferablyprovided with a flow restricting orifice having a mean cross sectionaldimension of no more than 80 percent and preferably not more than 75percent of the mean trough body width in the same direction and also anobliquely extending terminal wall for deflecting the upwardly movingliquid metal stream to the 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures June 23,1971Germany P 2131 121.7

[52] U.S. Cl. 417/50 [51] Int. Cl H021 45/00 [58] Field Of Search310/11; 417/50 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,558,1211/1971 Lenne 266/34 3,610,600 10/1971 SchnakeM 266/34 dehvery channel2,568,525 9/1951 Waddington. 222/152 Pmmenw 16 ms 3.765798 SHEET 1!)? 2ELECTROMAGNETIC CONVEYOR TROUGII FOR CONVEYING LIQUID METALS Theinvention relates to an electromagnetic conveyor trough of the type arefractory body which ascends at an angle from a liquid metal storagevessel, and which by the action of a travelling electromagnetic fieldconveys an open stream of liquid metal upwards to a pouring spout.

Electromagnetic conveyor troughs of this type are shown, for example, onin U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,670 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,720. In this type ofelectromagnetic conveyor trough, a travelling field is generated by apolyphase linear travelling field inductor which is preferably locatedunderneath the body of the trough, with its lower end extending farenough towards or under the storage vessel so that the liquid metal iswithin range of the conveying action of the travelling field inductorwhen the liquid bath in the vessel is at the lowest level at which it isstill intended to withdraw metal. Since the mean effective fieldintensity in the region of the end poles of a linear travelling fieldinductor falls roughly from its rated value to zero, the avoidance ofback pressure of the liquid metal at the upper end of the inductorrequires that the inductor surface near the upper terminal pole shouldabruptly or gradually bend over into the horizontal.

Conveyor troughs of this kind have been a great success in practice.However, for many applications, for instance where the conveyor troughis intended to deliver consecutive metered volumes of metal to a castingmachine, particularly a pressure casting machine, the positioning of thestorage vessel and of the conveyor trough necessitated by the nature ofthe casting machine is often very unfavourable, particularly from thepoint of view of an efficient utilization of the available space.Moreover, the design of the inductor windings when the end pole isoff-angled is somewhat complex.

It is the object of the present invention to provide, in associationwith a storage vessel, an electromagnetic conveyor trough which willoften enable the storage vessel and the trough to be more favourablydisposed, and which will permit the inductor winding to be of simplerdesign than that "required in the above mentioned conveyor troughs.

This object is achieved by the present invention in which theelectromagnetic conveyor trough is provided in a side wall of therefractory body of the trough I and at least partly within the region ofthe penultimate or last inductor pole with an opening at the upper endof the trough from which a delivery channel extends to the side at anangle to the longitudinal direction of the trough. At the upper end ofthe body of the trough, a terminal wall preferably extends obliquelyacross the longitudinal direction of the trough, serving to deflect theliquid metal flowing up the trough towards the opening and into thedelivery channel.

In a useful further development there is provided at a point precedingthe lateral opening into the delivery channel and in a manner as setforth in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 77,061 a flow-restrictingorifice for limiting the depth of the flowing metal.

Likewise as set forth in an earlier U.S. application Ser. No. 170,475 itis preferred that in the present conveyor trough the mean dimension ofthe cross section of the flow-restricting orifice in the directionnormal to the effective component of the electromagnetic travellingfield should not exceed 80 percent, more particularly that it should notbe more than percent of the mean width measured in the same direction ofthe trough section preceding the restricting orifice in the direction offlow.

The invention will be hereinafter more particularly described withreference to the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view in plan (after removal of the cover) of anelectromagnetic conveyor trough associated with a holding furnacerepresenting the storage vessel and serving to supply a pressure castingmachine with liquid metal.

FIG. 2, this arrangement, shows a longitudinal section of the embodimentof FIG. 1 taken on the line I I.

A furnace vessel 1 of a conventional holding furnace is attached to theascending refractory body 2 of an electromagnetic conveyor trough 3. Forgenerating of a travelling electromagnetic field which conveys theliquid metal from the furnace vessel I in an open stream up the trough 2against the effect of gravity a polyphase linear travelling fieldinductor 4 is provided underneath the body of the trough 3 with thelower end inductor 4 extending to below the refractory lining 5 of afurnace constitutinga storage vessel 1. In the region of the penultimateinductor pole at the upper end of the trough one of the side walls 6 -ofthe trough 2 has an opening 7 from which a lateral delivery channel 8leads downwards roughly at right angles to the side, forming a pouringspout 9. For deflecting the liquid metal flowing up the trough in thedirection of an arrow 10 into the opening 7 of the delivery channel 8,the upper end of the refractory body 2 of the trough is formed with aterminal wall 11 which extends obliquely across the longitudinaldirection of the trough.

In order to improve the metering accuracy, the trough 2 contains at apoint which in the direction of flow precedes the lateral opening intothe delivery channel a flow restricting orifice 12 preferably comprisinga slide 13 for adjustably varying the cross section of the orifice. Thehorizontal width of the orifice 12, i.e., in a direction normal to theeffective conveying component of the travelling electromagnetic fieldis, as discussed above, smaller than the mean width of the troughsection which in the direction of flow precedes the orifice 12.

The drawings indicate parts of a pressure casting machine, namely theplaten 14, the filling bush l5 and the injector l6. Owing to thedisposition of the delivery channel 8 at an angle to the longitudinaldirection of the trough, it is possible to locate the mouth of thepouring spout 9 directly above the filling opening 17 of the fillingbush 15. This arrangement ensures that by comparison with known meteringelectromagnetic conveyor troughs the liquid metal need travel only aminimum distance from the furnace vessel 1 to the pressure castingmachine.

Many changes and modifications of the above embodiments of the inventioncan, of course, be made without departing from the scope of theinvention. Accordingly that scope is intended to be limited only by thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: i

1. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough having a refractory trough bodywhich ascends at an angle from a liquid metal storage vessel, includinga floor side walls bounding said floor and an electromagnetic fieldinductor located beneath and adjacent said floor, which inductor by theaction of a travelling electromagnetic field conveys an open stream ofliquid metal upwards, the improvement wherein the trough body isprovided in a side wall of at least partly within the region of thepenultimate or last inductor pole, with an opening at the upper end ofthe side wall from which a delivery channel extends to the side at anangle to the longitudinal direction of the trough.

2. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 1, the furtherimprovement wherein at the upper end of the body, a terminal wallextends obliquely across the longitudinal direction of the trough fordeflecting the stream of metal conveyed up the trough towards theopening of the delivery channel.

3. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 2, the furtherimprovement wherein at a point which in the direction of flow precedesthe opening into the delivery channel, a flow restricting orifice isdisposed for limiting the depth of the stream of metal conveyed up thetrough.

4. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 3, the furtherimprovement wherein the mean dimension of the cross section of the flowrestricting orifice in a direction normal to the effective component ofthe travelling electromagnetic field is not more than 80 percent andpreferably not more than percent of the mean width measured in the samedirection of the cross section of the trough preceding the flowrestricting orifice'.

5. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough having a trough body ascendingat an angle to the horizontal with a floor and side walls boundingliquid metal flow and a travelling field inductor located beneath andadjacent said floor for producing a travelling electromagnetic fieldwhich causes liquid metal to move up said body, the improvement whereinone of said side walls is provided with an opening and including meansdefining a delivery channel connected to said opening for receivingliquid metal from said body, via said opening. l

1. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough having a refractory trough body which ascends at an angle from a liquid metal storage vessel, including a floor side walls bounding said floor and an electromagnetic field inductor located beneath and adjacent said floor, which inductor by the action of a travelling electromagnetic field conveys an open stream of liquid metal upwards, the improvement wherein the trough body is provided in a side wall of at least partly within the region of the penultimate or last inductor pole, with an opening at the upper end of the side wall from which a delivery channel extends to the side at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the trough.
 2. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 1, the further improvement wherein at the upper end of the body, a terminal wall extends obliquely across the longitudinal direction of the trough for deflecting the stream of metal conveyed up the trough towards the opening of the delivery channel.
 3. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 2, the further improvement wherein at a point which in the direction of flow precedes the opening into the delivery channel, a flow restricting orifice is disposed for limiting the depth of the stream of metal conveyed up the trough.
 4. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough as in claim 3, the further improvement wherein the mean dimension of the cross section of the flow restricting orifice in a direction normal to the effective component of the travelling electromagnetic field is not more than 80 percent and preferably not more than 75 percent of the mean width measured in the same direction of the cross section of the trough preceding the flow restricting orifice.
 5. In an electromagnetic conveyor trough having a trough body ascending at an angle to the horizontal with a floor and side walls bounding liquid metal flow and a travelling field inductor located beneath and adjacent said floor for producing a travelling electromagnetic field which causes liquid metal to move up said body, the improvement wherein one of said side walls is provided with an opening and including means defining a delivery channel connected to said opening for receiving liquid metal from said body, via said opening. 